News & stories

8 May, 2018 – Tel Aviv, Israel – Focusing on the challenges and opportunities for developing sustainable agricultural practices in the arid and semi-arid regions, UNCCD Executive Secretary Ms. Monique Barbut addressed the participants of Agritech Israel 2018, one of the world’s leading exhibitions in the field of agricultural technologies and innovations. Agritech Israel is the forum that brings together policy makers, economists and project managers from business and industrial sectors around the world who work to promote innovative solutions in water and land management, expand food sources and advance agricultural development. Speaking of modern agriculture, Ms. Barbut compared it to the complex recipe where all the ingredients should remain of high quality and mix well together. While present-day technology has allowed a dramatic increase in productivity, it has also put an enormous pressure on land resources by demanding higher inputs of water, fertilizer and pesticides. Modern agricultural methods are in large part unsustainable, leading to widespread land degradation and loss of biodiversity, leaving people and ecosystems more vulnerable to the effects of climate change and other environmental challenges, such as drought and water scarcity.  To expect farmers to keep feeding the growing world while preserving land resources for generations to come, it is essential to equip them with tools and technologies to do things differently. By moving towards sustainable intensification with fewer but smarter inputs, empowering small-hold farmers, reducing food waste and rewarding sustainable land management practices, we can create a lasting recipe for success, Ms. Barbut concluded.  Read more: Sustainable land management Land degradation neutrality

4 May 2018 – Kyiv, Ukraine – The Coordination Council to Combat Land Degradation and Desertification met to discuss the implementation of national action plan (NAP) to combat land degradation and desertification in Ukraine, as well as the results of the land degradation neutrality (LDN) target setting process, in particular the proposed national voluntary targets.  The meeting has brought together representatives of central and regional governmental bodies, local municipalities, scientific institutions, international and civil society organizations, and experts.  The Coordination Council has outlined the recommendations on protection and sustainable use of land, as well as the proposed national voluntary LDN targets, focusing on the stabilization of soil organic matter (humus) as the main target to achieve LDN in Ukraine by 2030. Regarding supplementary LDN targets, proposals have been made on rehabilitation and sustainable use of peatlands, restoration of irrigation and the improvement of soil conditions in irrigated lands. Read more: Achieving land degradation neutrality Land degradation neutrality target-setting programme  

Promoting sustainable land use unifies our voices for bird conservation   Birds are highly sensitive to their environments. With 30 per cent of the land now degraded, the long journeys migratory birds fly every year across continents to find food, breeding and rearing grounds are becoming ever more dangerous and exhausting. As they lose the land resources that usually sustain them, migrating birds are increasingly forced to find new habitats. It is making their journeys longer, more tiresome and their survival and reproduction less secure. In short, land degradation poses an existential threat to migratory birds.  The commitment countries made in 2015 under Sustainable Development Goal 15 to achieve land degradation neutrality (LDN) by 2030, is a commitment that guarantees the future survival of migratory birds. By choosing land degradation neutrality, the countries agreed to avoid degrading any new land, to reduce the degradation of the lands currently in use and to reverse the process in the degraded areas.  To date, 116 countries that are Party to the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification are setting in place the measures needed to avoid, reduce and reverse land degradation by 2030. Over half of these countries now have concrete targets to assess their progress towards meeting the LDN target. Of the latter, 40 countries are working on schemes to recover and transform degraded large areas and landscapes into healthy ecosystems - havens for migratory birds and for human wellbeing.  Encouraging land users all over the world to adopt sustainable land use and management practices is to unify our voices for bird conservation. Each commitment to land degradation neutrality is a vote to secure the feeding, breeding and rearing grounds for migratory birds. Read more: World Migratory Bird Day Land degradation neutrality  LDN targets Sustainable land management World Day to Combat Desertification

9-12 April, 2018 – Fortaleza, Brazil – The Global Support Programme workshop for Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) has brought together 62 delegates from 26 countries to develop technical capacity for the UNCCD national reporting process.  During the opening session, representatives of the national and regional government, local institutions and the UNCCD spoke of Brazil's historical commitment to the work of the convention, as well as the role that capacity building can play in the UNCCD implementation in the country and across the region. An extensive agenda with considerable technical components motivated the participants to work closely with the UNCCD team of facilitators to gain expertise on how to effectively use the UNCCD reporting tools, including the recently revamped PRAIS3 platform and the innovative Trends.Earth tool developed by Conservation International. These instruments will enable country Parties to prepare and analyze their indicator data as part of the UNCCD reporting process and LDN monitoring, as well as future reporting under the SGD process.  The workshop included a discussion on various UNCCD-related issues of regional importance, as well as additional sessions with the representatives of UN Environment and Mirova, during which the delegates received detailed information on the operationalization of the GEF funded Umbrella Project and the LDN Fund. FAO and the Partnership Initiative on Sustainable Land Management (PISLM) have also organized side events to discuss UNCCD initiatives related to the implementation of the convention. The event has been positively evaluated by the delegates as an on-target initiative to ensure a successful UNCCD national reporting process and prepare for the seventeenth Session of the Committee for the Review of the Implementation of the Convention (CRIC), which will take place in Guyana in January 2019.

3 May, 2018 – Bonn, Germany – The UNCCD has actively participated in the forty-eighth session of the Subsidiary Body for Scientific and Technological Advice (SBSTA) of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change Conference to demonstrate the importance of land degradation neutrality (LDN) as a groundbreaking actionable concept for mitigating and adapting to climate change. During the tenth meeting of the Research Dialogue, UNCCD has successfully shown the relevance of land-based solutions to global environmental challenges by presenting an innovative poster on LDN – a framework for maintaining ecosystems and human well-being under a changing climate – to numerous interested SBSTA participants. Following the interactive poster session, the UNCCD further participated in effectively co-shaping the dialogue between science and policy representatives on supporting the implementation of the Paris Agreement. The UNCCD experts contributed to the discussion centred around science for understanding and science for action and impact. One of the key issues addressed by the participants of this fruitful climate change-focused dialogue was the required shift towards sustainable consumption and production patterns. The UNCCD played a key role in emphasizing the importance of an enabling governance environment at the global level for shaping sustainable land-based solutions to the challenges posed by the climate change. 

23–25 April, 2018 – Riyadh, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia – UNCCD discussed innovative ways to integrate science, practice and policy to effectively combat desertification as part of the three-day international workshop organized by the ministry of environment, water and agriculture (MEWA) of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Several experts, managers, scientists from public and private sectors, representatives of the government, international organizations and research institutes gathered to discuss innovative methods to combat desertification. The presentation "Leveraging Innovation through the Integration of Science, Practice and Policy to Combat Desertification," delivered by the secretariat, focused on achieving land degradation neutrality (LDN) as the essential element in reaching multiple Sustainable Development Goals. The UNCCD also presented its current projects as part of the exhibition that featured work of international and local civil society organizations. The workshop is the first step towards knowledge sharing and exchange of information and best practices to combat land degradation and desertification in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and in the region.  To learn more, please visit: http://www.iwcd.info